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Full Fibre upgrade - requirement for two sockets?

keithp — Sat, 02 May 2026 15:57:01 GMT

Hello

We have now decided to get the upgrade (although it was either that or lose our contract), anyhow two questions please. We have one spare socket which could be used for the box, which brings the connection into the house, and for the smart hub can we use our current extension? This is a surge protected tower extension that we use for the PC, monitor and printer. Also any idea of the size of the box please? Not the smart hub, the new box that they drill a hole for.

Keith

Re: Full Fibre upgrade - requirement for two sockets?

gg30340 — Sat, 02 May 2026 16:25:36 GMT

Yes you can use an extension. You will need to connect the hub to the ONT, the box that brings the connection into the house, with an Ethernet cable.

The ONT is as per this link.

Openreach modem (ONT) explained: Ports and models available | BT Help

The newer ONT is 90mm (H) x 82mm (W) x 25mm (D).

Re: Full Fibre upgrade - requirement for two sockets?

WSH — Sat, 02 May 2026 16:51:27 GMT

The ONT (Optical Network Terminal) they fitted for me, six months ago, is an Adtran 611. Measures 8 x 8 x 2.5 cm.* Specs quote the power consumption at 6W.

I have this ONT, a Smart Hub 2 and a Draytek router all running through a long extension with a 5A fuse. (Estimated load is more like 0.5A).

In your case I would, however, be dubious about running a printer through the same extension. If it is a laser printer, they pull a lot of current when the fuser heater kicks in. My old Brother printer jumps to just over 1kW, albeit only for a second or two.

*You'll also need a couple of inches clearance underneath it to plug the cables in.

Re: Full Fibre upgrade - requirement for two sockets?

keithp — Mon, 04 May 2026 08:26:16 GMT

Ok Thanks.

The set up we have at the moment is a 6 plug tower extension with surge protection, three cables are used - Pc, Monitor and printer. What I am proposing for BT is the ONT box is plugged into the free wall socket and the Hub is plugged into the tower extension. The printer is on standby for most of the time. However, does the ONT box need to be plugged in all the time? Lets say we needed that socket for - say another use for ten minutes for example, can we unplug it? I ask because we have another double socket that is free all the time, but my wife uses it for ironing and what still wish to use it, so if that was used one of the sockets would need to be unplugged every week.

Re: Full Fibre upgrade - requirement for two sockets?

gg30340 — Mon, 04 May 2026 09:25:42 GMT

The ONT is designed to be on 24/7 however you can unplug it if you want. It will obviously mean you have no Internet when it is diconnected and any devices connected to the hub will have no Internet.

It will take a few minutes to reconnect when you plug t back in.